


The Walking In Between

by hummingrightalong



Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dysfunctional Family, M/M, Starting Over, Travis lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 08:55:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16636826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hummingrightalong/pseuds/hummingrightalong
Summary: Post RanchTroy is sick and Madison, of all people, encourages him to take it easy. Nick is amused.





	The Walking In Between

**Author's Note:**

> This fits with our canon divergent series, this is set well after the events of S3. Madison finds Travis along the way and eventually makes it to the new Otto settlement. The Clark kids are married to the Otto brothers, Alicia having several kids of their very own and Nick&Troy adopting theirs.

“What are you doing inside?” Nick had put down his chores hours ago, saving his strength and packing the kids full of supplements. Troy was pretty intense about natural remedies. His husband still remembers how crazy he thought that was when they first met, but so far his concoctions had worked beautifully. Admitting to himself that his immune system would always be compromised, Nick only fought his rounds *slightly*.

“Would you believe me if I said your mother was mean to me?” Troy’s voice is muffled and Nick tries not to smirk when he wraps an arm around his boyfriend and guides him to a comfortable seat in the living room. He wraps a few blankets around him and quickly makes a run to the bathroom cupboard for tissues. The asshole is already up and trying to fidget with something. 

“Actually, sure. I wouldn’t doubt it.” Madison had come along several years after they’d settled, after Nick was *damn* sure he’d blown her up and buried her in the rubble. For trying to murder Troy, for never intending to let Nick *go*. For ruining homes and lives in her pursuit to ‘make a home for her and her children’ (yeah, yeah, Troy destroyed the ranch but she’d set the chaos in motion - goddamn pandora). She’d lost Travis that way, lost her kids’ faith in her. She’d manipulated innocent people and played a sick game with a man she knew her son deeply cared about.

“Well I guess she just made a compelling argument.” And that’s how she got in. Troy nearly had a damn break down when he saw her, traumatized from his near death experience. Truth be told he’d planned on killing her for Nicky, but had been beaten to it (no pun intended). For a while there, no one thought he’d even wake up, let alone ever be normal. 

“That’d be a first.” The younger man replies, smirking, as he sets some water to boil for the nasty tea recipe in an old handwritten book. This note taking thing was definitely a family affair. His aunt had focused on health, with her background in medicine and a focus in natural remedies, Nick had to admit she’d known what she was talking about. When his parents weren’t there for him this woman had taught Troy everything she needed to know over the summers of his childhood. She and Jake might have been the only positive influences in the man’s life before Nick came along...

“I wouldn’t leave you and the kids alone with her,” the blond swears seriously between the pathetic sounds of a really serious cold. He looks somewhat ashamed when he blows his nose, wheezes a bit into the blanket he’s now got wrapped up to his damn eyes. 

“What, she tell you she’d take over the family again if you died from the sniffles?” Nick asks, bringing a cup of steaming, beautifully scented tea that he knows tastes wretched. He’s been through this before, but it should knock out whatever Troy has (finally) caught and boost his immune system. The kids had been pissed (and pissy) about not being able to snuggle up to daddy for the last couple of days. Madison must be catching on. 

That and Nick had seen his mother supporting Troy’s weight as best she could, lecturing away as they came up the walkway. His husband could barely stand. Nick could only imagine what his mom had actually said but it definitely hit home because Troy was behaving like an angel...something he never did when feeling less than 100%. He was usually a big baby and a pain in the ass. Nick had only seen this a couple of times in the years they’d been together, but to be honest that’s all he personally could stand. Jake was better at this. Apparently Madison wasn’t bad either...ew.

“Kinda. I don’t even trust her with her own damn kids.” Nick suppresses a laugh, but it’s true. What saved his mother when she and Travis (and Taqa and Ophelia) showed up in Washington looking for sanctuary was that there were two very small children with them. The smallest in Madison’s arms, the other toddling with a tiny hand in Travis’. They had no way to know what this place was, or who it belonged to, but they had heard about it as they traveled. A damn fortress that occasionally let people in in exchange for work. They were rebuilding the area, making a community, and clearing the highway to help people from the other side. Travis knew he could get in by assuring them he was strong enough to work a job like that. 

It had taken a while, and Troy was still nervous as hell sometimes, but the Clarks were working towards some kind of understanding at least. Alicia had had children of her own, and Nick had always known that his little sister was on his side but desperately missed Travis (felt terrible for giving him such a hard time) and maybe some small part of her did want her mother - even though she was still angry about the side of Madison she hadn’t known was there until the world ended.

“I AM her own kid.” The younger man can’t help but add, rubbing Troy’s shoulders as he sips tea from under a heavy hood of blankets. He can hear his husband breathe the scent in deeply, knows he’ll sip it slowly like you’re meant to, disgusting as it is. He’s tough like that.

Troy clears his throat, sighing as he falls into Nick’s arms.

“Not you, you’ve been around long enough to know better.”

Troy finishes telling Nick how Madison had found him working with the crops, trying to fix some heavy machinery, and just generally wearing himself out like he did everyday. But she was firm, and a little annoyed, when she dragged him away from his chores. He told Nick how Madison seemed to only half believe her bullshit, how Troy himself was *so not* moved by her motherly words. 

The fact itself that he’d called her ‘motherly’ showed his husband might be warming up to her, and her efforts to help him recover showed she had changed as she’d been promising since they reluctantly let her stay for Travis, the kids, and their companions. 

Nick wouldn’t bother him about it, there was no reason to bring that shit up and if Madison was really trying he did want to make her work for it. Still, ‘motherly’ wasn’t something Troy was accustomed to and he obviously needed it. Jake was good at babying him, had been the sole reason Troy had a tendency to be a little...bratty at times. Not that you could fault him when you saw what little care he’d received as a child. How dismissive to downright cruel his parents had been.

“How you feeling baby?” Nick whispers, thinking Troy has dozed off finally, wrapped in his cocoon.

“She better not pull that shit when I’m feelin’ better.” He sniffles, throws back the rest of that nasty brew and curls up with his head on Nick’s chest. The younger man moves the pile of blankets just enough so the poor thing has space to breathe. 

“Damn right.” Nick says, meaning to sound firm and thinking it was about time he hug his mother next time he sees her.

**Author's Note:**

> Have to thank Meteora for getting me and my <3 hopelessly addicted to the Trick ship, and for a few plot bunnies along the way.


End file.
